King Charles III will not appear on the new Australian banknote: Why has the British monarch been removed?
Australia removes the british monarchy from its banknotes.
The country’s central bank said Thursday it was new 5 dollar bill would feature an indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. However, the king is expected to appear on coins currently bearing the late’s image Queen Elizabeth the second.
The $5 bill was Australia’s only remaining banknote that still featured an image of the monarch.
The bank said the decision followed a consultation with the centre-left Labor Party government, which had backed the move. Opponents say the move was politically motivated.
The British monarch remains Australia’s head of state, although this role is largely symbolic these days. Like many former British colonies, Australia is debating the extent to which it should maintain its constitutional ties with Britain.
Australia’s Reserve Bank said the new $5 bill would feature a design that would replace the portrait of the Queen, who died last year. The bank said the move would honor “the culture and history of the first Australians”.
“The other side of the $5 bill will continue to feature the Australian Parliament,” the bank said in a statement.
Queen Elizabeth II will still appear on the coins
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the change is an opportunity to strike a good balance.
“The monarch will still be on the coins, but the $5 bill will say more about our history and heritage and our country and I see that as a good thing,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton likened the move to changing the date of the national holiday, Australia Day.
“I know the silent majority disagrees with a lot of the nonsense raised, but we need to hear more from these people online,” he told 2GB Radio.
Dutton said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was central to the King’s decision not to appear on the note and urged him to “commit to doing so”.
After taking office last year, Albanese began laying the groundwork for an Australian republic by creating a new position of Deputy Secretary of State for the Republic, but holding a referendum to sever constitutional ties with Britain was not a top priority for his government .
The bank plans to consult with indigenous groups on the design of the $5 bill, a process it expects will take several years before the new note is released.
The current $5 will be issued until the new design is released and will remain legal tender after the new note is released.
King Charles III’s face is expected to appear on Australian coins later this year.
One Australian dollar is worth around 71 cents in US currency.
With the release of the 50 pence coin in December, the UK currency began its transition to the new monarch. The obverse of the coin features Charles, while the reverse commemorates his mother.
There were 208 million $5 notes worth AU$1.04 billion ($734 million) in circulation this week, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Australia’s smallest denomination accounts for 10% of the more than 2 billion Australian banknotes in circulation.
Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party wants Australia to become a republic with an Australian citizen as head of state instead of the British monarch.
After Labor won the general election in May last year, the Albanian appointed Matt Thistlethwaite as Deputy Minister for the Republic. Thistlethwaite said in June it would not change during the Queen’s lifetime.
Australians voted to retain the British monarch as Australia’s head of state in a 1999 referendum proposed by a Labor government.
By the time the Queen died, the government had already pledged to hold a referendum later this year to recognize tribal people in the constitution. The government has dismissed the addition of a republic issue to this referendum as an unwanted distraction from its indigenous priority.
At one time, Queen Elizabeth II appeared in at least 33 different currencies, more than any other monarch, an achievement noted by Guinness World Records.
